Poor old Sir Peter Jackson!

Picked this story on the NZ news this morning. It deals with probably New Zealands most well known wargamer and model Hoarder Sir Peter Jackson...

"An American toy salesman will be jailed for 10 months after billing nearly $250,000 in bogus charges to Sir Peter Jackson's credit card.

Richard Berry, owner of the Michigan Toy Soldier Company in Royal Oak, made the fraudulent charges after Jackson used his American Express card in 2007 to buy items from the toy store.
The store specialises in historical miniature models of collectable soldiers and other figurines - which Jackson is known to avidly collect, regularly shopping online.

Court records show that after Jackson made his purchase, Berry then submitted US$189,902.22 (NZ$246,025) in unauthorised charges to Jackson's card.

Berry already had a conviction for similar credit fraud from 1993.

Despite his pleas to remain free, Berry was on Tuesday (NZ time) sentenced by US District Court Judge Robert Cleland, who also gave Berry three years' probation, the Detroit Free Press reported.

The Daily Tribune had earlier said that Berry's lawyer, David Steingold, told the court Berry made the charges because his company, which he founded in 1990, was in financial trouble.
"He needed inventory and used the credit card and hoped to repay the money when sales picked up," Steingold said.

"Things got out of hand because the economy didn't turn around."

Berry admitted what he did when he was contacted by American Express in 2008, the Detroit Free Press said.

Berry, who has paid back more than half the money to the credit card company, entered into a plea agreement in September.
The Press quoted a letter to the judge where Berry apologised for his actions and asked to remain free while serving his sentence.

"I am truly sorry for this and all the trouble it has caused everyone. I was led to do this because so many people were relying on me and the thought of failure and letting all these people down weighed so heavily on me that I made some very foolish and terrible decisions," Berry wrote.
"When the economy turned bad, my business started to suffer and funds started to dry up which led me to make these bad choices."

He added: "None of this justifies what I have done in this case. I took advantage of someone who I thought might not notice."

Steingold had argued for a lighter sentence, citing his client's remorse for his actions, but prosecutors argued against leniency, citing Berry's past criminal conviction in court records, the Detroit Free Press said.

"There is no doubt that Berry's incarceration will cause hardships to his family but the judiciary has long recognised that some collateral harm is typical whenever a criminal who is a member of a functioning family is sent to prison," prosecutors wrote in court documents.
"The case before this court is not extraordinary; it is typical."